 This article belongs to the Classic Continuity
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If All Else Fails is the thirty-fourth episode of Ben 10: Alien Force.
Plot
An earthquake awakens a Highbreed officer, who had been kept in stasis in a bunker, to be awakened if the Highbreed lost the war. Following his orders, he begins to activate a fail-safe weapon with the intention of destroying Earth.
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All the people inside the crystal, activating the failsafe
Grandpa Max is preparing dinner for Ben, Gwen, and Kevin when he begins acting strange, collapsing and then talking to himself. Ben and Gwen are very concerned and wish to take him to a hospital, but Max insists he is fine. However, shortly afterwards, purple plant tendrils begin growing out of Max, which are revealed to be mind-controlling seedlings implanted into humans previously imprisoned by the Hightbreed. Now fully under Highbreed control, Max takes the Rust Bucket and arrives at the seedling collection point, along with five others. Having sufficient biomass, the Highbreed commences the failsafe activation and the mind-controlled people become crystallized.
Ben, Gwen, and Kevin awaken to find Max gone, along with the Rust Bucket. Gwen uses her powers to track him down and reaches the failsafe location. There they see Max trapped with all the people, as well as the Highbreed. They try to reason with the Highbreed, informing him the war is now over, but the Highbreed refuses to listen. A giant Highbreed Tree Monster emerges from the ground, which contains the mind-controlled people that it uses for biomass and as various parts of its internal anatomy, such as antibodies and even its brain, which is revealed to be Max.
The Highbreed officer refuses to believe Ben's claims of peace and won't divulge how to stop the creature. While Gwen and Kevin try to slow it down, Ben enlists the aid of Reinrassig III to get the Highbreed officer to cooperate. It is revealed the creature is a fail-safe for the Highbreed if they died and lost their war. It is primed to find a nuclear power plant, charge itself with energy and explode, with the resulting fall out being enough to destroy all life on Earth in minutes. Unable to stop the monster from the outside, Ben, Gwen and Kevin sneak inside the monster to destroy it within. They manage to save the humans used as its brain and the Highbreed officer sacrifices himself to dispose of the creature safely.
Noteworthy Events
Major Events
- It is revealed that several dozen humans who have been previously imprisoned by the Highbreed have been implanted with techno-organic seeds designed for post-hypnotic suggestions and turned into seedlings for the Highbreed Tree Monster, including Max.
Minor Events
- One of Grandpa Max's stories (the one he finishes when the team saves him) is about Devin Levin, Kevin's father.
Characters
- Ben Tennyson (flashback and present)
- Gwen Tennyson (flashback and present)
- Kevin Levin (flashback and present)
- Max Tennyson (flashback and present)
- Reinrassig III (flashback and present)
- Azmuth (flashback)
- Highbreed Officer (first appearance)
- Ship
Villains
- Bunker Highbreed (first appearance; death)
- Headless Highbreed Antibodies (people under control)
- DNAliens (flashback)
Aliens Used
- Spidermonkey
- Humungousaur (selected alien was Way Big)
- Jetray (x2; both cameos)
- Diamondhead
- Swampfire
Quotes
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Naming and Translations
| Language | Name | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| French | À court d'idées | Run out of ideas |
| Hungarian | Ha más nem marad | If Nothing is Left |
| Portuguese (Br) | Último Recurso | Last Resource |
| Spanish (HA) | Si Todo lo Demás Falla | If All Else Fails |
| Spanish (Spain) | Si Falla Todo Lo Demás | If All Else Fails |
Allusions
- "If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error." is a quote by John Kenneth Galbraith.
- A rabbit appears at the beginning, with a color scheme similar to the character of the same name from Disney's Winnie The Pooh.